September 4, 2015 at 1:11 PM (PT)

SALEM RADIO NETWORK host HUGH HEWITT's tough questioning of guest DONALD TRUMP, and TRUMPs subsequent insults thrown at HEWITT, have earned the veteran radio talker a lengthy profile in the WASHINGTON POST.

The POST's examination of HEWITT, whose probing of TRUMP on foreign policy issues exposed the candidate's uncertainty and drew a lambasting from TRUMP as a "third-rate announcer," notes that despite HEWITT's open conservatism and Republican Party ties, he "has a reputation for facilitating rich and respectful on-air conversations with guests whose own political loyalties lie far afield from his own" and has close ties with powerful figures across the ideological and political spectrum, a Reaganite who also counts President BILL CLINTON's former communications director MARK GEARAN (HEWITT's HARVARD roommate) and ANNE GUST, a MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL classmate who is married to CALIFORNIA Governor JERRY BROWN, as friends.

"The man's dinner parties and social media timelines must surely be epic." the POST's JANELL ROSS writes, adding that HEWITT's show is a rarity not only for attracting the political elite but for providing accurate transcripts including full context to political reporters soon after airing.

HEWITT will be on the panel for the upcoming G.O.P. presidential debate on SEPTEMBER 16th in SIMI VALLEY, CA, where TRUMP will once again face his questioning.